English

Can Twitter and Facebook Deal With Their Dead?

What happens to a person’s online content when he dies? This is an impending issue for popular websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Twitter recently released a formal policy for a deceased user’s account. Instead of automatic deletion, a relative must provide proof of the user’s death as well as proof of his identity and his relation to the deceased. Then the relative can decide to keep or delete the content. However, the relative does not gain access to the account. While it may be a hassle to some, it is a step in the right direction. This sort of policy avoids causing anguish for those grieving, since sites like Facebook and Twitter send automatic reminders to contact people, including those that are deceased.

Some psychiatrists say that allowing a person’s content to remain available and accessible aids with bereavement. However, websites are most concerned about protecting the privacy of the deceased. If there are messages or images that were kept secret from relatives in the account, their discovery could cause much discontent for the family. Facebook’s current policy blocks anyone from logging into the deceased’s account and removes other private information once the family provides proof of death. Facebook turns the deceased’s profile into a sort of memorial page. Only people that were previously authorized to view the person’s profile can continue to do so after his death.

Facebook and Twitter are well-known sites that are addressing the issue, but what about accounts on other lesser-known sites that the deceased may have? That is what companies like Legacy Locker handle. They provide digital safe deposit boxes in which a person can store their online accounts and corresponding passwords, and in the event of death, the person’s information will be given to the family. Because this solution may not be viable for everyone, another suggestion is to set up a digital version of the Bereavement Register, a service set up to prevent junk mail from being sent to the deceased. Until a standard is set up for dealing with online content, people that have online content should specify their desires to their family or even keep a digital will.

[4]anke (when) is a conjunction meaning ‘when’ that is formed from the preposition anu (at (in time)).

[5]swalo jvonu populera vebay saytoy (issue for popular websites) is a noun phrase using the link jvonu formed from the preposition vonu (about, concerning).

[6]la uzay mortyajo (the user’s death) is a noun phrase containing the Type I relational adjective uzay, which is derived from the verb uzare (to use). It is bound to the becomative event abstraction noun mortyajo ((event of) death). This phrase can also be read as ‘death of the user.’

[7]praytew (as well as) is a subject/object reference preposition that denotes a second object of the verb provedare (to provide).

[8]la relatayto ji dya cwe la morto (his relation to the deceased) is a noun phrase using the link ji (of (subject)) which links the object (relatayto) to its subject (dya). This phrase also uses the joint connective cwe to connect the pronoun dya and la morto (the deceased).

[9]icpe (then) is a discourse connective meaning ‘and then’ which connects the current sentence with the previous sentence or thought.

[10]akcesajo jwi la akawnto (access to the account) is a noun phrase using the link jwi (of (as direct object) which links akcesajo (access) to its object la akawnto (the account). Note that English uses the preposition ‘to’ where Ayola uses ‘of.’

[11]stigajo ctoru la korekta direkciono (a step in the right direction) is a phrase that Ayola literally translates as ‘step toward the right direction’ with the link ctoru, which is derived from the preposition toru (toward).

[12]gegriva (grieving) is an adjective with the passive prefix ge-. The passive prefix is used because the people (personoy) are the object of grieving.

[13]saytoy kyasu Feysbukce Twiter (sites such as Facebook and Twitter) is a noun phrase using the relative preposition kyasu (such as) followed by an exemplary noun phrase (Feysbuk ce Twiter).

[14]klusew (including) is an object reference preposition that refers to the included object la mortoy.

[15]byu (by (agent)) is the agent preposition. English uses the preposition ‘about’ in this case where Ayola uses byu.

[16]nuna (current, present) is the fundamental adjective for ‘current.’ To say currently, Ayola would use the derived form nune.

[17]aynlognare (to log into) is a compound verb formed by the prefix ayn- (in) and the verb lognare (to log (to enter/exit) a computer site, etc)). The correlative opposite of this verb is ayflognare (to log out of).

[18]la personoy aru kyo dza anteye geawtoridzits vidare la profilo jwi la persono (people that were previously authorized to view the person’s profile) is a phrase that is literally translated to ‘people to whom it was previously authorized to see the profile of the person.’ In Ayola, one must authorize an act to someone.

[19]bone gekenda saytoy (well-known sites) is a phrase with the derived adjective gekenda from the verb kendare (to know (to be familiar with)). This verb is different from sabare, which means ‘to know (a fact).’

[20]didjitala sekura gedepositway baksoy (digital safe deposit boxes) is a phrase that uses the adjective didjitala (digital) which uses a ‘dj’ because a ‘g’ refers to the body part (digito means ‘digit (finger or toe)’). The Type II relational adjective gedepositway uses the passive ge- prefix to denote the thing deposited.

[21]kasu (in case of) is a useful preposition meaning ‘in case of.’ Note that the original English used ‘in the event of’ but ‘in case of’ can also be used in its stead.

[22]smyetsa gepostro (junk mail) is a phrase containing the noun form of the passive verb gepostrare (to be mailed). In the noun form, gepostro means ‘thing mailed.

[23]nalu (from) is a preposition that means ‘from’ in the sense of avoiding.

[24]bekwedimo (will) is a noun derived from the verb bekwedare (to bequeath) denoting the printed or hard-copy version with the suffix -im-.